It should be a pretty interesting season. I wan't very impressed with the white team - it looks like they found another Courtney type from last season. I thought the girl on the black team with the swing vote had an interesting choice - if they lose again she may find herself in trouble. It should be interesting to see how the merges will happen. Some pretty good people - I think the diversity will help the show greatly.

1. Everyone leaves the starting line driving a Mercedes and Phil doesn't mention the type of car - sounds like they decided not to pay extra for the sponsorship.

2. I know Tom & Terry are the gay team, but watching them walking with the other teams made me wonder if they were also creeping into Charla's domain.

3. Good to see the race start in a really exotic location - no one has a language advantage and it's a level playing field.

4. A really nice mix of people in the cast - it seems like they have a pretty good sense of comraderie. As always, some of the teams seem to be cast strictly because they are interesting but obviously are not extremely competitive. The fun part is seeing which ones overcome the odds and make it to the final legs.

5. I would love to have a chance to try scaling the wall with the rope. It seems much harder than it would appear and you always wonder how difficult something would be to accomplish. Whenever they asked us the one place you would like to travel to on the race my answer was always the Great Wall - oh well.

Racing Tip #1: When in a country where you have no language skills, never get in a cab unless your confident that the cab driver understands what you're asking. Once you leave the airport, cab stand, etc. and get on the road you're going to be in trouble once you realize he doesn't know where he's going. Better to spend the extra time when you are at a place where you may have people around who can actually help you.